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[3]

Posidonius relates that the Mysians religiously abstain
from eating any thing that had life, and consequently, from
cattle; but that they lived in a quiet way on honey, milk, and
cheese; wherefore they are considered a religious people, and
called Capnobatæ.1 He adds, that there are amongst the
Thracians some who live without wives, and who are known
by the name of Ctistæ. These are considered sacred and worthy
of honour, and live in great freedom. [He pretends] that the
poet comprehends the whole of these people when he says,

“
and where abide,
On milk sustain'd, and blest with length of days,
The Hippemolgi, justest of mankind.2

”

Iliad xiii. 5.

These he designates as ‘without life,’ more particularly on
account of their living without wives, considering their solitary state as but a half life; in the same way as he likewise
designates the house of Protesilaus ‘imperfect,’ on account
of the bereavement of his widow; in the same manner he applies to the Mysians the epithet of ‘close-fighting,’ on account
of their being invincible, like good warriors. [Finally, Posidonius pretends] that in the thirteenth3 book of the Iliad we
ought to substitute for ‘the close-fighting Mysians,’ [‘the
close-fighting Mœsi.’]

1 A note in the French translation suggests that Capnobatæ has some
connexion with the practice of intoxication by inhaling smoke, and of
using the vapour of linseed, burned upon red-hot stones, as a bath. See
Herodot. book i. chap. 202; book iv. chap. 75.

2 And the illustrious Hippemolgi, milk-nourished, simple in living and
most just men. Iliad xiii. 5.

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